Warren(-1) gives the receiver plenty of time and space on the rollout (cover -1) and there's a makeable third down. Pressure -1, as well.

O34

3

11

Shotgun 3-wide

Okie

Pass

TE Out

Williams

Inc

Both linebackers blitz and are picked up (pressure -1), leaving Clark in the pocket for too long. He can't find anyone past the sticks, coming down to a decently covered TE (cover +1, Williams +0.5), who he overthrows badly. Williams was tackling as the ball arrived and would have brought this up short of a first down if complete.

Drive Notes: Punt, 0-0, 13 min 1st Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

O26

1

10

Single wing-ish?

Base 4-3

Run

Off tackle

Warren

20

Um... or something. This is a traditional I-formation with Derrick Williams lined up next to the fullback in a two-point stance. Anyone who knows what to call this let me know. They hand off and go off tackle; Mouton blitzes upfield and Graham(-0.5) impacts the fullback, but there's a crease. Warren(-1) is sitting around the LOS; Williams cuts him to the ground, allowing Royster outside. Very poor from Warren; he must keep contain.

O46

1

10

Shotgun 2-back

Base 4-3

Pass

Screen

Mouton

Inc

Both linebackers blitz; this could be ugly, but Mouton(+0.5) gets in fast enough to force a high throw that is dropped. (Pressure +1.)

O46

2

10

Shotgun empty

Base 4-3

Run

QB counter draw

Thompson

8

Another blitz sees both linebackers head to the backside of the play; PSU pulls a guard around and shoots upfield. This is terrible recognition from Thompson(-1), who fails to read the pulling guard until he's way out of position, and a poor read from Graham(-1), who's either pulling into a short zone or stunting or something. Thompson(+1) does pound Clark as he nears the first down, popping the ball out. Michigan recovers.

Drive Notes: Fumble, 7-0, 6 min 1st Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

O48

1

10

Shotgun empty

Base 4-3

Pass

Circle

Mouton

8

A little circle route about four yards downfield; Mouton(-0.5) takes a poor angle to the ball and concedes an extra three or four yards after the catch he doesn't have to.

M44

2

2

Shotgun 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Zone read counter

Harrison

44

Wow. Okay, there's all this stuff in the middle of the field, but watch Harrison(-2) run himself right into the slot receiver's cut block and fall to the ground spectacularly, turning this from a first down into a touchdown. This seems like a pretty crappy play from Ezeh(-1), too, who just sort of sat back, getting shoved by an OL and missing a diving tackle attempt on Royster when he spun free of the mess in the middle of the line.

Drive Notes: Touchdown, 10-7, 3 min 1st Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

O40

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Zone read counter

3

Thompson(+1) finally takes the outside shoulder of the lead blocker ( a pulling guard) on this, forcing it back inside. Taylor has flowed down the line, tackling on the cutback.

O43

2

7

I-Form 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Waggle cross

--

Inc

Martin(+0.5) is stunting outside and provides decent pressure(+0.5 on the perimeter. This may force a low throw on this, which is to an open receiver (cover -1) but low and tough to catch and eventually dropped.

O43

3

7

Shotgun empty

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Hitch

Mouton

1

Effective blitz is about to get Ezeh(+0.5) in on Clark, so Clark dumps it off on a four-yard hitch (pressure +1); Mouton (-1) is way far away (cover -1) and looks like he's about to overrun the play when the receiver starts juggling the catch, eventually ending up back at the LOS and getting swarmed. Lucky.

Drive Notes: Punt, 17-7, 12 min 2nd Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

O31

1

10

I-Form 3-wide

Base 4-3

Pass

Out

Warren

7

Warren(-1) in obvious bail coverage from before the snap, so this is a really easy read for both QB and receiver; it's open for a chunk of yards. (Cover -1.)

O38

2

3

I-Form

Base 4-3

Run

Off tackle

Thompson

26

This is just effed from the snap; Graham(-1) gets walled off and Thompson(-1) shoots upfield, leaving zero people on the corner. This is a million easy yards for Royster.

M46

1

10

I-Form 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Pitch

Thompson

-1

Graham(+0.5) does a good job stringing it out and Taylor(+0.5) gets a lot of push as he flows down the line, breaking up some of the timing on the blocking. Royster's cut up is met by an authoritative Thompson(+1) tackle that gets Spielman all excited. Awww, he's so cute when someone makes a good tackle.

M47

2

11

Ace empty

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Cross

Ezeh

9

Three-man rush (ick); Ezeh(-1) overruns his zone expecting a hitch, opening up this little crossing route for good yardage. (Cover -1) Good tackle from Mouton holds it short of the first down.

M38

3

2

Shotgun 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

QB sweep

Graham

2

They get it but no complaints from here; Graham(+1) did a great job of stringing it out, making contact behind the LOS. He just doesn't have enough momentum to prevent Clark from diving out and getting the first down.

M36

1

10

I-Form

Base 4-3

Pass

TE Flat

Thompson

9

Graham(+1) beats the LT, getting pressure on Clark and forcing a quick throw. He dumps it out to the tight end for what would be a few yards; Thompson(-1) misses a tackle, turning this into something near a first down. (Pressure +1, cover -1)

M27

2

1

Shotgun 3-wide

Base 4-3

Pass

Throwaway

Graham

Inc

Graham(+1) bulls the LT back into the quarterback, then disengages and attempts to tackle. Clark escapes the first attempt; Graham grabs his leg. Clark then chucks it OOB. He's inside the pocket here... is this grounding? (Pressure +1)

M27

3

1

I-Form

Base 4-3

Run

QB sneak

--

-2

Clark fumbles the snap, and when the FB picks it up his knee is down. No one in the booth ever informs us there's a fumble.

Drive Notes: Missed FG(45), 17-7, 6 min 2nd Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

O16

1

10

Single wing-ish?

Base 4-3

Run

Off tackle

Mouton

-1

Excellent blitz from Mouton(+1) stones the fullback in the backfield and eventually drives him backwards. Graham(+0.5) has maintained good position on the outside, containing. Royster tries to jump back inside and is swarmed.

O15

2

11

Ace 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Screen

Brown

4

Martin(-1) is actually tasked as a spy here and does not get to the running back releasing on PSU's middle screen; both linebackers have charged upfield and are out of the play. Brown attacked the play and got cut to the ground in front of Royster; Royster attempts to cut and slips. Lucky.

O19

3

7

Shotgun 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Hitch

Mouton

6

Three man rush gives Penn State forever(pressure -1); Clark can't find anyone until he's running around thinking about taking off (cover +1). This is Royster, who's released into the flat way late. He makes the catch a couple yards short of the sticks and looks sure to get the first before Mouton(+1) makes a great, square tackle, driving him back. Penn State comes up just short.

Drive Notes: Punt, 17-7, 3 min 2nd Q. Okay, before we get to the next drive a note: Penn State starts it at the 41 due to two huge special teams mistakes. One is Criswell's personal foul. The other is Mathews failing to field a 38-yard punt and turning it into a 53-yard punt with no return. If those items don't happen Penn State has the ball at its 11 yard line and likely plays for halftime. Instead, this will be a touchdown drive.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

O41

1

10

Ace 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Deep hitch

Warren

17

Five man rush gets nowhere near Clark (pressure -1); Warren(-1) is well off the receiver on the catch (cover -1). Miss the tackle, too, allowing Butler to get OOB.

M42

1

10

Ace 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Waggle TE out

--

Inc

This is open(cover -1); Penn State's TE drops the ball.

M42

2

10

Shotgun 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Run

Draw

--

10

Michigan screwed on this from the snap. We're in that stupid 3-3-5; PSU has two timeouts and two minutes and can obviously run the ball here. We're in a three-man rush with the DT dropping off into a spy, so both DE's are thinking pass rush only and head upfield, leaving four blockers against one DL and two pass-dropping LBs. Awful defensive call from Shafer.

M32

1

10

Ace 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Run

Counter

--

14

I have no idea what Michigan thinks it's doing because we're on a closeup when the ball snaps but they've overloaded one side and dropped Mouton off significantly; Penn State just runs off tackle. With no linebackers, this is easy. Meanwhile, no one reads the pulling guard and we get no safety fill.

M18

1

10

Ace 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Penalty

Offsides

Taylor

5

Taylor(-1).

M13

1

5

Ace 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Screen

Graham

3

Great job by Graham(+1) to backtrack and tackle immediately on this.

M10

2

2

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Delay

Ezeh

5

Director Jackass just loves lingering way too long on players and takes us to the play after the snap; impossible to tell what's going on. Ezeh(-1) does move unblocked to the hole at the LOS and miss a tackle.

M5

1

G

Shotgun 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Run

Counter

Mouton

1

Mouton(+1) looks like he's going to get crushed by the pulling guard, but then Royster decides to cut up, allowing him to flow to the ball and tackle effectively.

M4

2

G

Shotgun empty

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Out

Graham

Inc

Graham(+1) again pressures Clark but can't bring him down; Mouton(-1) got pulled way off the receiver unnecessarily, opening up a receiver in the endzone; Clark's being harried, though, and it's incomplete. (Pressure +1, cover -1.)

M4

3

G

Shotgun empty

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Hitch

Williams

4

Williams(-1) is in a short zone and way too far off the receiver. (Cover -1)

Miss the start of this play for a VT-BC ad; this looks completely adequate all around with no standouts and no one doing anything particularly wrong.

O18

2

6

Ace 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Run

Draw

--

9

AAAAAAAAAARGH IT'S SECOND AND SIX AGAINST A RUNNING TEAM AND MICHIGAN HAS FIVE GUYS IN THE BOX. Michigan does that linebacker overload blitz they've been trying, where the two LBs attack the gap between the NT and a DE, and PSU runs a draw at it, creasing the stunting line and shooting into the secondary. Again, this is on Shafer, as the players had zero chance to stop this given the playcall.

O27

1

10

I-Form offset

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

PA Dig

Stewart

13

This is not a real I-form, they've got Williams as the nominal tailback with Royster offset in the backfield. Jamison(+0.5) contains this waggle rollout pretty well, but Clark throws some sort of jump pass to a wide open receiver beyond the sticks; Stewart tackles (cover -2). Ezeh(-1) dragged light years out of position by the play action fake.

O40

1

10

Single wing-ish?

Base 4-3

Pass

Throwaway

Graham

Inc

Graham(+1) is given one of those temporary blocks before the TE releases; he gets good pressure(+1) upfield, forcing Clark to toss the ball away in the general direction of covered wide receivers.

O40

2

10

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Iso

Thompson

4

TE off the line is used as a lead blocker; Thompson meets him and I guess does all right, holding his ground. He was tardy reacting, though, so that ground is two yards downfield and in the mess there's four yards for Penn State.

O44

3

6

Shotgun 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Run

QB draw

Ezeh

9

Oh, just shoot me now. Graham slants inside due to the playcall, removing himself from the play, as Michigan blitzes heavily to the backside of the play. The tackle peels off and pulls around, acting as a lead blocker; Ezeh(-1) fails to read this, getting too far inside and blocked by the tackle; Stewart actually beat a blocker and could have helped stop this short but there's too much space because of Ezeh.

M47

1

10

I-Form

Base 4-3

Pass

Flare

Graham

Inc

Graham(+0.5) shoots around the LT again, raking at Clark's hand and bumping him up into the pocket, where Mouton(+0.5) has come on a blitz and begins to sack Clark. Clark attempts to dump it off to Royster, but it's dropped; would have been a loss of two, anyway (Pressure +2).

M47

2

10

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Pass

Bubble screen

Mouton

11

Mouton(-1) is slow to react, then overruns the play, turning five yards into 11. (Cover -1) Taylor makes a punishing downfield tackle.

M36

1

10

Ace 4-wide

Base 4-3

Pass

Flare screen

--

8

Michigan actually has this dead to rights with Trent(-0.5) and Taylor(-0.5) reading the play; both of them overrun it, allowing Williams to duck inside. (Cover +1)

M28

2

2

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Dive

Ezeh

4

Thompson actually does a good job of taking on the pulling guard; Ezeh(-1) runs up out of the play, gets engaged with a linebacker, and ends up ten yards downfield.

M24

1

10

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Pass

Fly

Warren

Inc

A bomb down the sideline that Warren(+0.5) is actually in pretty good coverage on; the throw is excellent. Butler makes a diving catch, but the ground knocks it loose. (Cover +1.)

M24

2

10

Ace 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Drag

--

Inc

Ezeh in man-to-man with a dragging Derrick Williams... this is not a good idea. Michigan is blitzing and Mouton(+0.5) manages to harry Clark a little bit, I guess; the pass falls incomplete. (Pressure +0.5, Cover -1.)

M24

3

10

Shotgun 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Flag

Graham

Inc

Three man rush; this time Graham(+0.5) gets some small measure of pressure(+0.5), which I think causes Clark to toss the ball away. At least I think that's what he's doing, because his throw is five yards too high and to a covered(+1) receiver.

Drive Notes: Field Goal(42), 17-17, 6 min 3rd Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

50

1

10

Ace

Base 4-3

Run

Off tackle

Taylor

3

Taylor(+0.5) holds up pretty well against a double, and there's no crease up the middle. From there it's hard to tell what happens; Royster squeezes through the line for three yards when it looked like he would get stopped for zero.

M47

2

7

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Pass

Fade

Warren

25

Mouton(+1) comes on a blitz and gets there, forcing a quick throw; Warren(-1) lined up in man near the LOS, gets to bump on the receiver and gives him far too much room to the sideline on this fade. (Cover -1.)

M22

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Counter

Mouton

21

Time and again we see this happen where two players on the D attack the same gap. Here's it's Mouton(-1) shooting upfield, causing Royster to bounce it out; Graham(-1) has gotten pushed back to the LOS and lost contain. Royster bounces outside and has plenty of green grass; a late-filling Brown(-1) gets blocked by Clark, turning this into a major gain.

M1

1

G

Goal line

Goal line

Run

QB sneak

--

1

Eh.

Drive Notes: Touchdown, 26-17, 3 min 3rd Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M37

1

10

Ace twins

Base 4-3

Run

Counter

Martin

14

Mouton(-1) and Ezeh(-1) sit back and accept blocks from linebackers; Martin(-1) failed to hold up to a double team and got creased, providing a cutback lane for Royster.

M23

1

10

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Off tackle

Johnson

3

Johnson(-1) gets scooped, sealed away from the frontside of the play and the second guy gets a block on Ezeh; Harrison(+1) comes up quickly and tackles after a small gain.

M20

2

7

Shotgun 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Run

Zone read keeper

--

5

Again five guys in the box at the snap, with two of them blitzing up the middle; no linebackers. Ezeh attempts to scrape outside but the crappy angles Michigan players have because of the play call end up allowing one pulling tackle to block two guys and pancake Ezeh.

M15

3

2

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Dive

Johnson

1

Johnson(+2) fights through a double team by himself, slices into the path of Green, and tackles him short o the sticks. Big play with no help.

Drive Notes: Field goal(33), 29-17, EO3Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

M19

1

10

Ace twins

Base 4-3

Run

Dive

Johnson

3

Taylor(-0.5) blown back a bit by a double; Johnson(+1) fights through it and drives his guy back to the LOS, where Royster has to stall before cutting to one side of him. Ezeh cleans up after a couple yards.

M16

2

7

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Pass

End-around pass

Graham

Inc

Graham(+1) gets upfield on this, forcing Williams back a few yards and probably making this inaccurate. Stewart(-1) has an interception in his hands and drops it.

M16

3

7

Ace 4-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Cross

Harrison

15

Five rushers get nowhere near Clark (presure -2), giving this long drag time to develop. It's in front of Harrison(-1, cover -1), caught, and turned up for near touchdown yardage.

M1

1

G

Goal line

Goal line

Run

QB sneak

Martin

0

Sneak fails; tough to tell who to credit but I think Martin(+1) got under Shipley and pushed him back.

M1

2

G

Goal line

Goal line

Run

QB sneak

--

1

Eh.

Drive Notes: Touchdown, 36-17, 12 min 4th Q.

Ln

Dn

Ds

O Form

D Form

Type

Play

Player

Yards

O41

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Base 4-3

Pass

Bubble screen

--

Inc

For whatever reason, Clark decides not to throw this, then chucks it OOB.

O41

2

10

Shotgun 3-wide

3-3-5 Nickel

Pass

Hitch

Trent

11

Graham(+1) does manage to get pressure(+1) pretty quickly on this three man rush. No matter, though, as Butler is open(cover -2) between Trent(-0.5) and Mouton(-0.5)

M48

1

10

Ace twins

Base 4-3

Run

Off tackle

Martin

6

It is really frustrating how poor the linebackers are at reading all these pulling guards. Here Ezeh(-0.5) runs himself upfield and gives the OG an angle to block him, which makes Mouton(+1) excellent job of standing up the OL pointless. Martin(-1) also sealed away too easily.

M42

2

4

Shotgun empty

3-3-5 Nickel

Run

QB draw

--

18

Michigan blitzes and gets out of position; Brown is filling decently here but Graham(-1) gets driven so far back on this that he allows Clark a lane outside, which he takes.

M24

1

10

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Delay

Martin

4

Martin(-1) sealed away and eventually pancaked here; big gap. Ezeh(-0.5) fails to read the play and lets Shipley seal him away; Harrison(+0.5) fills near the LOS ably.

M20

2

6

I-Form

Base 4-3

Run

Sweep

--

0

Michigan brings up both safeties and has nine in the box on this one, and strings it out.

M20

3

6

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Pass

Out

Warren

7

Warren(-1) is bailing out deep and this simple out at the sticks is wide open. (Cover -1)

M13

1

10

Shotgun 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Counter

Mouton

3

Mouton(+0.5) attacks the pulling guard well, closing this hole down to very little; Taylor finishes after the Mouton-induced delay.

M10

2

7

Ace 3-wide

Base 4-3

Run

Off tackle

Taylor

6

Taylor(-1) gets blown back, and does anyone really care at this point?

M4

3

1

Goal line

Goal line

Run

Iso

--

0

Eh, whatever.

Drive Notes: Field goal(21), 39-17, 5 min 4th Q. End of charting.

What the hell?

I don't know, man. Yeah, Penn State's second half point explosion was heavily aided by Michigan screwups on special teams and offense, but it's not like this is an aberration. Illinois put up 45, after all, and did that by running it all over the place; in this game Royster averaged nearly ten yards a carry. Whatever hopes you have for this defense should now be dead.

Chart?

Sigh. Chart.

Before we get to it, a caveat: I didn't expect the numbers to be this ugly, and at this point in the season I may be excessively harsh due to general malaise and anger. By the last drive I was obviously not objective. But, yeah, they did put up 46 points and largely stopped themselves in the first half.

On with the show.

Defensive Line

Player

+

-

T

Notes

Jamison

0.5

-

0.5

Has a total of 0.5 points, positive or negative, over the past two games.

Johnson

3

1

2

One big third and short stop.

Taylor

1.5

2.5

-1

Disappeared.

Graham

9

4.5

4.5

Best player on defense without question.

Patterson

-

-

-

Banks

-

-

-

Van Bergen

-

-

-

Martin

1.5

4

-2.5

A lot of negatives late when he was in as a 4-3 DT; unsurprising he took a beating from Shipley & Co; he's just a freshman.

TOTAL

15.5

12

3.5

Basically Brandon Graham and disappointment.

Linebacker

Player

+

-

T

Notes

Ezeh

0.5

8

-7.5

Holy Christ.

Thompson

3

3

0

Forced a turnover.

Panter

-

-

-

Evans

-

-

-

Mouton

7

6

1

Still terrible in coverage; turning into a good blitzer.

TOTAL

10.5

17

-6.5

Secondary

Player

+

-

T

Notes

Trent

-

1

-1

See "coverage".

Harrison

1.5

3

-1.5

One of the primary culprits on the long touchdown.

Warren

0.5

6

-5.5

More later.

Cissoko

-

-

-

Dutch

-

-

-

Stewart

-

1

-1

Brown

-

1

-1

Williams

0.5

1

-0.5

TOTAL

2

13

-11

Enormous disappointment.

Metrics

"Pressure"

9.5

6

3.5

Largely thanks to Graham and Mouton.

"Coverage"

5

19

-14

#$**#$$F*#$($.

Let me just tackle some of the guys you're probably going "urk" about:

Obi Ezeh. Hey, when you're the middle linebacker and the opponent rushes for 6.3 YPC you probably get a massive negative in UFR. I don't really blame him; if Michigan had recruited more than one high-profile linebacker since Crable and Burgess Ezeh would probably be waiting his chance on the bench.

Isn't it time to start getting Fitzgerald some time? A drive here and there; he's basically got to play next year.

Donovan Warren. I really, really hope he's had one of those injuries that's just not quite bad enough to knock you out of the game, and I hope he's had that most of the year. Because he hasn't made a single play, and a lot of Penn State's success was going right at him.

That coverage number. What can I say? Michigan let guys run all over the field. When they were in zone, Penn State found holes. When they were in man, Penn State ran drags.

It appears your goodwill towards the coaching staff is beginning to ebb.

Defensively, yes. I'm willing to put the crappy linebacker corps on Carr's extremely poor recruiting at the position, but the secondary has been a disaster zone with a bunch of highly-rated recruits. While the offense has tried a bunch of different things in an attempt to escape the basement, the defense has rolled out a 4-3 all year unless they're going to the 3-3-5. Said 3-3-5 has not been effective at rushing the passer and has been a complete disaster against the run, but it got rolled out on third and one last week and second and six this week, with predictable results.

I just don't get it, man. You cannot put five guys in the box on a potential running down, especially when two of them are defensive ends, two of them poor linebackers, and the other a freshman NT. And yet.

Fire somebody?

No. There's an obvious deficiency in talent on the D and whenever you switch regimes you can expect some issues. Any discussion about booting guys is Auburn-level premature.

But, yeah, my confidence level in Shafer is dipping.

Heroes?

Brandon Graham was consistently good, and Mouton's developing into a pretty decent player.

Goats?

Ezeh pulled that big negative for a reason, and pick someone in the secondary. Also, Shafer's inexplicable deployment of that 3-3-5 on Penn State's final drive of the half greatly aided that game-turning touchdown.

What does it mean for the future?

Well… I think we're going to be okay against Michigan State. Brian Hoyer is really bad and a little dinged up and their offense is a lot like Wisconsin's, against whom Michigan actually did pretty well. This is a game in which the DL will be very relevant. We'll have problems and give up points; I'm not expecting State to go nuts or anything.

As for the future: any team that can take the DL out of the game is going to put up a lot of points if they're any good. Purdue probably isn't; Northwestern and Minnesota might be, and who knows about Ohio State?

If I see Michigan in that 3-3-5, I'm thinking I might run a draw--especially if I'm Tressel and I can call a QB draw on 3rd and 6. Look at what draws did against that defense. Standard smash mouth against the Ballerina Defense.

Uggghhh. So painful. IMHO Warren is hurt. He was not getting tested like this earlier.

Shafer has called some headscratchers. I recall a 3 man rush against Wisky that let them stroll down the field late. Maybe picking a coach you never met ,based on a couple years at non-traditional powers is not such a hot hiring plan.

Alright, so it is somewhat believable that Michigan's offense might find slightly more success running something that more suits their personnel. Instead, they are developing a system for the future. This is okay with me, as this year is just about a throw away. That being said, I can not stand the 3-3-5 on the other side of the ball. In order to run this effectivley, you need a strong nose tackle to anchor, and linebackers who are exceptional at making reads and tackling in space. You also need DB's who are willing to function as "hybrids" in run support. Does this sound like Michigan to you? How about in the next five years? No? Then don't run it. Perhaps you run an offense without all the pieces just to get the system in place. When the personell required to run the 3-3-5 aren't even on the horizon, it is time to scrap it.

No footage of Taylor's fierce downfield tackle? That was the defensive highlight of the game imho.

Another highlight, more like an ironic "I'm laughing because I don't know how to cope with this kind of exceptional nonsense" was the late TD ... Spielman exclaim's "Only Morgan Trent!...." (at this point I am already laughing, seeing the inevitable outcome). Trent characteristically lets his body fall limp at his opponents feet in what some might call a tackle attempt (I wouldn't).

Perhaps Shafer's mind-boggling calls are his overcompensating for the players he's been dealt? These are young coaches, I tell myself, who at times seem they are just trying too hard.

For some reason, I'm not seeing any video right now, seems like it was there when I first looked at it.

Anyway, seems to me what your'e describing is a non-traditional power I look. Traditional Power I puts a second fullback next to the fullback of the I formation. I'm not sure what the point of having Williams there though. Must be setting up for something.

Shafer is not doing a great job. Perhaps he was not ready for this big of a job. We can make a lot of excuses, but the bottom line is that the defense should be better than it is. I bet if the D has another bad year next year they will find a way to ease someone else in to help at D-Coord. In fact, I have a suggestion. His name starts with Shhhh, and ends with ee-an-o. And he won't be coaching Rutgers or Penn St. in a couple of years if things keep going as badly as they have been. Any guesses who I am talking about?